Журнал Viche 2007 №17

№17, 2007

Old songs

There are a lot of methods of influencing on public opinion, and every needs creative approach. But mainly old theses are used in the present pre-election rhetoric.

Unfortunately, our politicians can hardly keep to the golden mean, there are good and bad people, dear people and strangers, and there is no intermediate variant.

As a rule, all competitions with advertising products of electioneering happen because of two reasons. The first one is that the professional developers of products do not understand the specific of political agitation and impose usual for them style of commercial advertisement on the leaders of campaign. The second one (considerably more dangerous) – the leaders of campaign wish to create something that will at once convert an elector into a reckless supporter of a candidate or a party.

Unlike previous competitions, the present ones are also marked by political shows, at least at the stage of gatherings of parties and blocks. Competition for brightness and volume put thoughts about demand for mediocre hack-work, and primitive political advertisement is based on underestimation of intellectual possibilities of the target audience. And the choice of facilities of persuasion is the index of political culture. For some reason many people do not take into account that the attempts of rough manipulation of public opinion can give a reverse effect, material encouragements of population work only at a concrete moment and they do not create steady positive image.

Probably, politicians consider (and maybe even believe in it piously?) that potential electors do not notice the conducting of agitational campaigns at time when it is forbidden, because it is not officially declared. Or that they don’t guess who is at the head of the hidden political agitation or so called social advertisement.

Fortunately, our citizens have already learned to differentiate lie and manipulation.

Svitlana FILONENKO